Judging from the search terms that hit this blog and the steady trickle of emails I get on the subject, there is a fair amount of curiosity and/or puzzlement amongst Rathbone fans regarding the life and tragically early death of his adopted daughter Cynthia.
It’s true that what we know about Cynthia is surprisingly patchy, considering she was a movie star’s daughter. Even the public photographic record seems to be meagre. Only one photo of her as a baby, and probably less than a dozen all told. Here is what we do know.
She was born in California, in April 1939.
Adopted by the Rathbones shortly thereafter.
Her names were Barbara Cynthia. The above source alleges( on what authority is unknown) that “Barbara” was the name of both her adoptive grandmothers, but neither the name Ouida pretended her mother had (Marion Manners) nor the name of her actual mother (Ida Branch) fits with this claim.
According to her obit in the NYT, at the time of her early death, in 1969, Cynthia was living with Ouida at 15 W72nd in NYC, and working as an assistant art director at the Hockaday Advertizing Agency.
Her obit alleges she died of “acute anemia”. When Michael B. Druxman interviewed Ouida in 1973, she didn’t expand on that, and only commented that her daughter had died from “an illness.”
Another source (which I’m going to do a post about soon) alleges “[she] ha[d] long been ill with hepatitis.”
And, currently, that is pretty much all we have. The unanswered questions are legion. Who were her birth parents? How well did she come through a childhood spent in sometimes fraught and anxious family circumstances? How were relations with Ouida? When did she get sick, and why?
If anyone can help answer these questions, or add anything to this fairly tiny store of knowledge, we’d be incredibly grateful. We’d love to hear from anyone who knew Cynthia as a child or adult. Anyone with family connection who knew her. Anything at all.
You can leave a comment here, or email me at thebazblog@gmail.com.
The Baz 
Even hair that just has a slight wave will frizz in sea air. I have just a “little bend” to mine, and it’s almost ringlets when we do a beach vacation.
LikeLike
My hair’s got a few ringlets, there’s these annoying ones near my ears that always ‘un-ringlet’ themselves after a few hours of virtually anything, then they just stick out all over the place like a lions mane. DANGIT RINGLETS! *Kicks*
LikeLike
Just sitting here looking at those 2 pics. pic 1 Basil and weedy look like having a disagrement to me or at least an anamatied discusion, and Cyn looks SO HAPPY! Pic 2 love Basil’s hair is it permed? posibly for a part? His hair never was curly at all,it’s realy wavy in the 2nd pic.
LikeLike
Looks to me as if he had naturally curly hair and the sea air is making it frizz. I guess curls wouldn’t show most of the time because of the slicking back guys did then?
LikeLike
You can tell by how his clothes fit in those Sherlock films. Where before he always looked like he just stepped out of GQ, in the later Sherlocks his sport jacket just hangs on him. Or else Universal was too cheap to get a decent tailor.
LikeLike
Universal cheep? Shirley you jest![wheres the laughing smiley]Also have you niticed He and Lestrad were each others jackets.Realy check it out.Cant rember which eppys now. But when I used to see 3 eppys in a row every night for a week those sort of things just jump out at you.
LikeLike
Baz gets all the love and support lacking in his life from this blog.Until fairly recent times,Cystic Fibrosis pts rarely made it past graduating high school,if even that long.Understand now about one of my 6th grade classmates,missed most of prev school year cuz of illnesses,only lived thru 7th grade.Can still recall all the coughing,it’d break your heart.Now there’s Prednisone,amongst other meds.If Cyn had continuous health issues after her dad died,hope she had means of getting needed healthcare,rides to the docs,hosp.Didn’t hear OR say she missed Cyn,she must’ve,but to miss Baz after he’s gone,appreciating him while alive would’ve been preferable.There was no reason why he had to look so tired,old,and exhausted in Autopsy Of Ghost movie.
LikeLike
Well, he was a smoker, even a chain smoker according to one person who interviewed him. Smoking can cause people to look old and tired.
LikeLike
What seems so notable about BR though (to me anyhow) is how he suddenly seems to go downhill around 1944-46. He loses a lot of weight, his eyes don’t sparkle any more. Now we can be pretty sure it was the stress of life at that time, and it’s easy to believe X is right that he was losing his grip somewhat. Before I knew about that I wondered if he’d been secretly very ill with something.
LikeLike
I felt the SAME thing, Neve! 😦
Basil looked SO thin; and, almost FRAIL in the movies he made during those years—compared to, let’s say, “The Mark of Zorro”—where he’d displayed healthy weight and muscle-structure, clear bright eyes, and had a lively “vigor” about him…perhaps the BEST he’d ever appeared on film.
I’d also picked-up on this fact several years before reading about Basil’s life, and assumed he was possibly going through something DEEPLY negative at that period—whether it be due to sickness, work-related stress, personal problems at home, or other issues……I’m “sensitive” to people, like that.
This occurred before, when I noticed how Jeremy Brett had “changed” in a few of the later episodes of the Sherlock Holmes PBS series. His beautiful hair was all chopped-off, and there was this “deadness” in his eyes that hadn’t been there, previously. As I watched him, I thought to myself: “What has HAPPENED to you? What’s WRONG? I can tell something is HURTING inside of you”.
Following Jeremy’s death, I read online that he’d been troubled for many years with bipolar depression disorder; and, after the passing of his wife Joan (from cancer in 1985), he’d just “snapped”—he had to go briefly to a mental hospital for treatment, and it took a number of years for his condition to become tolerable, with the assistance of medication. This was the reason he’d cut-off all his hair one day in a sudden rage, and why his eyes had looked SO sad. 😦
LikeLike
Dear Gretchen,thanks for insight of both of our 2 noted SHs.Jeremy was so noticably different after starting Lithium it was frightening,esp hearing he died of congestive heart failure at a young age,turns out he had a rheumatic heart condition since childhood.Lithium can cause such drastic water retention/wt gain,as I’ve seen in so many clients on the med.Noticed in Milton Berle skit as “Capt Basil Rathbone” he looked quite thin,and so much older.He was funny in skit,but still seemed a bit sad.
LikeLike
Watched some of The Woman In Green this am-he really seemed so preoccupied and kinda sad,even if tried not to show it,it was palpable.Makes me mad thinking of critics who claimed he was “bored” towards end of SH series,esp now that Nigel’s concern for Baz’s well-being is known.Too bad BR didn’t have a place strictly on his own until things were worked out in EVERYONE’S best interest,not just OR’s,as seems clear to me.And so far as Cyn’s having CF,never knew steroidal meds not used for such cases,and clearly in the pic of Cyn & Baz from 1950s,she sure didn’t look like she was taking Prednisone,no moon face,or other signs of steroids,and then,CF cases didn’t seem to survive their school years,as in grad high school (had a grammar school-JR High classmate who passed away at 13 of CF-she missed a lot of school cuz of pneumonias,asthma,other lung ailments).Wondered if leukemia was a possible dx for Cyn.Surprised that there was a mention of the Rathbones meeting with Cyn’s dad in NYC.I figured she was orphaned.Maybe she did have lifelong health issues,that’s why she may have been given up for adoption.I know I prob shouldn’t promote a movie,but speaking of adoption,PHILOMENA w/Judi Dench & Steve Coogan was excellent and dealt with a mother’s seeking out her grown son that she’d had taken from her for adoption,much to her distress and anguish as single mother in care of Irish convent.Not that movie related to Cyn,but made me think of Cyn when I saw it.
LikeLike
“Surprised that there was a mention of the Rathbones meeting with Cyn’s dad in NYC” What? Where did you read that? I don’t see any mention of the Rathbones meeting with her birth parents.
LikeLike
I was wondering the same thing re: Rathbones meeting with Cynthia’s birth parents? Haven’t seen anything about that anywhere.
LikeLike
I saw Philomena this week-end, too. I wept through 2/3 of it (although my husband says I cry when they open a new Subway shop). Judi Dench is an incredible actress.
LikeLike
There’s one subway within 24 miles from my home. If another one opened, I’d cry, it’d be a miracle. ;_; <-Look! I'm crying thinking of it!
LikeLike
Still think Baz & X’s affair should’ve awakened the Mrs to reality,give yer man some lovin’,or get out of Dodge,cuz other women are more than willing (paraphrasing Barkus from David Copperfield,but not marriage as Barkus,but willing to accompany the Baz in the bedroom).And she uses overspending as punishment,makes as much sense as my 3rd grade teacher introducing herself to me my 1st day in new school by hurling me face-first into a wall with a “How do you like that!”Musta learnd discipline in the OR school of punishment that fails to fit the crime (no crime,just her hubby seeking comfort and love elsewhere-my teacher,she was hormonal & pregnant),I say still no excuse for her retaliating against cheating hubby who didn’t think he did wrong.Did they really communicate at all in that 41 year marriage and 3 year courtship?
LikeLike
Did You have the 3rd grade teacher from HELL or something?
LikeLike
Yes,and I wish she’d gone there until her hormones straightened out.When I’ve tried to discuss it with counselors all I got was “when did this happen” and no effort to help work thru it.She must’ve grad from OR school of discipline for the errant child/hubby.
LikeLike
One of my teachers called me ugly the other day, she must have been educated at the Ouida school too! XD
Although I do feel for Ouida what with the depression that X mentioned, I know myself that depression can be a really nasty piece of work, Ouida must have had a lot of trouble coping with that.
LikeLike
Wow. I think you should report that teacher’s behavior Mikufan. In the States he/she could lose their job over that kind of inappropriate interaction.
LikeLike
My parents took a letter into school about it, and I’m still waiting to hear what’s going to happen.
She’s not so good looking herself, I must say. >///<
LikeLike
Yay go your mom and dad! She should be fired.
LikeLike
Either nothings happened and she’s just mean to me, or something’s happened at she’s mad at me because she’s in trouble. =_= *Strokes imaginary beard* I can’t quite figure it out, she had about…what…3 nags at me for really small things within about 20 minutes? I’m starting to wonder. =_=
LikeLike
Cynthia was with Baz during filming of We’re No Angels and assisted his “perfect” placement of plastic dog poo outside Bogie’s door.Said she laughed her head off while her dad acted innocent to Bogie.Just don’t think that sounds like a sickly teenager.Read somewhere something said about her parent(s).Can’t remember where,but if OR scoured orphanages or shelters for the perfect child,how could they meet with parents.Maybe something else the scenarist dreamed up?
LikeLike
And Please let me asure you folks I’m NOT makeing this stuff up.It’s all out there waiting for someone to put it togather.I’m just picking up the pearls and stringing the neckless.
LikeLike
Well from what i have read it dont look like the the tiger changed its stripes.The more lies i catch her in,and i find new ones ALL THE TIME [just my last trip it was a census AND a passport ]The more convinced I am that she didnt have a sudden change of heart..nice storyline plot but it looks to me like Scrooge stayed a mean nasty old man in this story..so to speak
LikeLike
To quote Rathbone, this family tragedy is “Ibsenian.” Factoring Cynthia’s ill health into the already strained and broken dynamic seems almost too much. Basil says in one letter to Madame X “she [Ouida] detests me and she has won.” He lived with this woman who detested him until his death and Cynthia was raised by them both. What must life have been like? Did Ouida mellow and forgive him? Or did she continue quietly detesting him until he died?
LikeLike
Geesh..when you think of it like that….poor Cynthia. 😦
LikeLike
So basically the poor girl died either of hemorrhage or of some illness or drug that destroyed her red blood cells
LikeLike
Yes, that would be it exactly.
LikeLike
I found this link which might help we lay people
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/780334-overview
LikeLike
This blog is so well maintained I am very impressed. Absolutely compelling. I was looking for information on Rathbone’s life and this is the best source I have found.
LikeLike
Thanks! But I’d have to say basilrathbone.net has way more information and I would rate it as the best source of info. This blog is much more episodic and random. 🙂
LikeLike
Like many of you, I, too, visited some of the medical websites, and cystic fibrosis can cause acute anemia. However, if Cynthia had that condition, I think she would have been sick at a much earlier age, and it’s never mentioned in the autobiography. I think even in the 40s, there were funds for this condition, and one would think the Rathbones, as celebrities would use their influence to raise public awareness of this condition or even sponsor a charity. I have taught adult students with children or relatives with this condition. These children are severely ill at quite an early age. They usually don’t live very long.
LikeLike
Mmmmyah I think we should clarify. I wouldn’t say that CF _causes_ anemia. It’s a systemic disease which impedes numerous bodily processes including digestion and nutirient absorption, and once you have impeded function in these areas anemia can be one of the results. This is a long way from saying CF causes anemia though.
Also be aware of the difference between acute and chronic anemia. Most anemias induced by longterm illness would be chronic in nature. Acute anemia denotes sudden catastrophic blood loss of some nature. CF can’t cause that directly. It COULD cause liver damage severe enough to result in cirrhosis, but that just takes us back to the original point.
But as you say a patient with CF would be sick almost from birth, and in the 1940’s management of the disease must have been pretty ineffective, if it had even been described at that point. Cynthia would have been small and fragile as a child and adult, would have had severely impaired lung function and digestive function that would have lead to death in the teens of not before without proper management. Complication with anemia would be possible, and if the liver was involved then sudden hemolysis would be possible but not the most probable cause of death.
LikeLike
Still it realy is only spuclation untill we can or even if we can get a copy of the death cert. IF it actuly lists the cause of death. Could Cyn have had an accdent? Been in an accdent? Could internal bleeding cause that?Like an ulcer? How about”female trouble”?
LikeLike
Yeah, basically anything that can cause uncontrolled blood loss will create “acute anemia”. Trauma as in that sustained in a car accident, childbirth, botched abortion, miscarriage, attempted suicide by cutting a vein, illnesses that interfere with normal blood clotting, such as some liver diseases and cancers. All of these could result in catastrophic hemorrhage and death from “acute anemia”. But as I said it would be unusual for it to appear as the sole cause of death. Whatever caused the anemia would be there on the certificate too. So yeah you need to obtain a copy of the cert, though good luck with that post-Sandy Hook. It’s almost impossible for non-relatives to get death certs now. Even the Coroner’s office has to show reasonable need.
LikeLike
Not just blood loss, red blood cell destruction. Some drugs will cause runaway red blood cell destruction, and so will end stage leukaemia. You might have “acute anemia” as the immediate cause of death in situations like that. But as you say indeed, the precipitating pathology would also be present.
Long time lurker, poking head briefly above parapet, and now retiring again 🙂
LikeLike
Yes I thought I acknowledged that. Hemolysis would be a possible factor along with hemorrhage. The number of diseases or pathologies that might cause hemolysis is legion. The salient point I think is that the actual cause of death is missing from the obit. Acute anemia was just a symptom albeit the one that may actually have killed her.
LikeLike
@Lemony Snicket – Going back to something you said earlier, are you thinking that “acute anemia” might not have been the primary cause of death and that it was put in the paper because people preferred not to acknowledge what led to the anemia?
LikeLike
I am saying that “acute anemia” is a result or a symptom. It’s caused by something, and whatever caused it would generally be cited in the death cert alongside the anemia. So, while she may technically have died of “acute anemia” the thing that caused the anemia has been left out of the death announcement, either by oversight or design.
LikeLike
Right, thanks, got it.
LikeLike
Ya know I’m coming at this from a small town perspctive..Which is why I said about how easy it is to get copys of birth and death certs..But also from my small town perspective..People wright there own obit..or I ought to say the family does.Some times the furnarl parlor does it,from info suplied by family.The local paper prints it for free[as long as you dont want whole pages] and you phone it in.Is it dif. in NY?I have known cases where it was a suside,but you DEF wont find that in the obit.Not saying Cyn killed herself! Just that cause of death in obits can be wrong,or cleaned up.I recently read one where the family used the obit to blast a bad mother,the woman died and the obit was nothing but a rant for paragraps
LikeLike
Cut off..About what a bad Mother and stanky person this woman was.signed by all of her kids names..Always take an obit with a grain of salt.
LikeLike
Wow. Harsh.
LikeLike
Most def!
LikeLike
Yes, Marcia, my sentiments exactly. Alyssia: Do you have certain proof of cystic fibrosis? Please supply us with a copy of the Death Certificate. Thank you.
LikeLike
Cynthia did not have liver disease. She had cystic fibrosis which was inherited from her birth parents and was nothing to do with Ouida or Basil. There is no mystery and no skeleton and no Cynthia’s life was not just bearable. Her adopted parents were very kind to her and she adored them.
LikeLike
You say there’s no mystery. So why does the obituary say she died of “acute anemia”? Where did you read that she had cystic fibrosis? Do you have a copy of her death certificate that you could share?
LikeLike
Mabey its in Basils diary;} I will go with Alyssia on love. Quite clearly Basil loved her and vise a versa.
LikeLike
Yeah it’s all in that magic diary!! LOL
LikeLike
Not sure if this is directed at me but I’d like to point out I didn’t say Cynthia had liver disease, I merely responded to a question about what can cause acute anemia. I have to say I am surprised Cynthia died of anemia if she suffered from cystic fibrosis as people afflicted with that almost universally die of lung disease. Having said that I would always be surprised to see “acute anemia” listed on a death cert as a primary cause of death. I’d expect to see it as a secondary or contributory factor, as “anemia” of itself rarely causes death unless it’s a result of hemorrhage, trauma or some underlying pathology such as pernicious anemia, sickle cell or as I already said, liver disease or some cancers. In all these cases, the vast majority where anemia was a contributory factor or even the direct cause of death, it would be listed on the death cert in the context of the underlying disease or trauma. I would be surprised if her death cert actually listed merely “acute anemia”.
LikeLike
Wow,how did OR appear in Bankruptcy Court,where you are sworn and tell same whoppers,as confirm DOB,address,marital status,occupation and manage to not get nailed for perjury?Maybe lawyer advised to shut up & let him do talking,or maybe she self-represented.She could’ve been effective gangster’s moll after reading threats toward BR concerning divorce/affair with X.Saw census material 1920 for my family,no one lied about their Resident Alien status after my grandpa died after slaving in carpet factory dye house-no union to help him or his devastated family of 6 kids and another on the way-had major battle,as baby girl born premature,with hyaline membrane disease-born at home,as per routine way back then with midwife.If that happened to OR & BR’s baby,I feel compassion.Prob baby affected by prev miscarriages,damage by sadistic ex-hubby during her earlier pregnancy?Still don’t like OR for her heavy-handed tactics toward Baz,realize he was cheating,but,that was marriage that needed serious intervention at start of her lying & spending.At least Cyn got love & consideration not just material possessions from BR.Don’t know what she honestly got from Mother Rathbone,if anything like mine,was more like “refrig mother”,someone too wrapped up in their own trip to give child their propers,but mine struggled to survive for 27 yrs w/o her alleged friends caring,so I could forgive severely disabled mom,but did OR really care or not is what I’d like to know.Those issues cause health issues thru life span,being neglected/used for personal gains.Surprised when she grabbed Cyn from XC to read she was wearing a fur,too tempting around a child (citing my own incident w/fur wrap at restaurant as 4 yr old) it was a little the worse for wear.What about that long trek H’weird to Broadwink in 1946 for youngster,leaving friends,school to cooldown heated homelife due to Baz & X,or other reasons,loss of the Bruces as friends,Baz said Nigel never forgave him.They did put him up during separation,I’m sure OR ordered that severed friendship.Boy,Nigel’s prob biting his tongue when OR around was something,his distrust/distaste for her,prob other’s felt same to OR.Yeah,really happy man & marriage.
LikeLike
“Prob baby affected by prev miscarriages,damage by sadistic ex-hubby during her earlier pregnancy?” That is only hearsay at this point.I’m not a lawer i just play one on T V. no realy its 3 hand at best. somebody said that somebody told them.I dont care who the somebodys are. The orignal sourse of the story is???? a woman so well known for telling the truth?????? For all we know she could have been the one beating on R.H.! The could have just not gotten along.R.H. could have been an angle for all we know? I for one am giving R.H. the benefit of the doubt till i know otherwise.I’m looking at that persons track record for lying,and wondering if R.H. had just out lived his usefullness in her eyes. Dang it R.H. why didnt ya give give me your full name!
LikeLike
Yeah this is the problem – given that so many aspects of Ouida’s story that we can check out fail to verify, we can’t just take on trust the part we can’t verify. For all we know the whole story of a first husband who used to beat her up was as fictitious as her birth name. She might have invented it as a way to win sympathy from BR, or just as a handy excuse to avoid nasty ole sex. She might not of course. The point is we don’t know.
LikeLike
I started systmaticly checking Burgess in the previous censes to see if I can find a likely candate for R.H. Prosses of elemation.Whitout access to the kind of info I could find in an online Death Birth Marriage list such as WV has it will be slow going.
LikeLike
Thought passports weren’t mandatory until ~1940s?Just a stupid observation on my part,not necessarily accepted fact,thought I’d heard/read that about P’ports somewhere
LikeLike
I know Wikipedia isn’t a reliable resource, but its article on passports says that Europe had relaxed requirements during the 19th century. “During World War I, European governments introduced border passport requirements for security reasons (to keep out spies) and to control the emigration of citizens with useful skills, retaining potential manpower. These controls remained in place after the war, and became standard procedure.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport
LikeLike
Does anyone here right or read Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Homes fanfic? My brother got me all his Sherlock movies on DVD since I am a big fan of BBC Sherlock and I have fallen in love! He is such a sexy man and he is a perfect Sherlock Holmes. I just want to see another hundred movies and I wish he had filmed the whole canon like Jeremy Brett did. I’m now looking for fics to satisfy the craving!
LikeLike
A few pages back someone posted the link to one, it’s quite good.
LikeLike
I made a list of Basil fanfics on my blog!
http://basilrathbonetribute.tumblr.com/post/65956624239/basil-rathbone-sherlock-fan-fiction
LikeLike
Oh wow thanks SO MUCH! I am literally so happy right now I could cry! I love your sig btw on your blog. Is that Basil and Ida Lupino?
LikeLike
Have you read the orignals by Arthur Conan Doyle?
LikeLike
Yes I hav and I have to picture Basil now when I do that because he is the perfect Holmes. Benny is still my other fave because he is amazing, and a totally modern Sherlock, but Basil looks so perfect and he makes the Conan Doyle Holmes sexy!
LikeLike
Who are Biggles and Ginger? On “Thin Blue Line” Edmund reads Biggels .. as an American i feel left out? I’d like to read them too.
LikeLike
About Biggles and Ginger…
http://www.biggles.info/
😀
LikeLike
Also found might be her? in ny cencus 1920 listed as OMEDA Fitz-Maurise born in spain speeks spanish? living as a roomer in an apart on 67st oupation wrighter for motion pic. Can this chick tell lies or what?
LikeLike
I think that has to be her. Wow. Lying on the census.
LikeLike
BAD OUIDA! 😡 Baaaaaddd.
LikeLike
And her paspourt. Now i need to look at the 1st orignal passpourt app her 1st one to see if the birth dates are dif? I had to leave just as the gettin was gettin good.Still batting a zero on Cyn and the possible “other” child.When was Weedy hideing out from the bankrupty? Could the Omeda bit be part of that? And yes that is what it says it’s pretty clearly writen.,still even if the censes taker got the 1st name wrong,yes it DOES happen my own dad has his name wrong in both censes I found him in,one is only the his middle name is listed as his 1st name. the other is so way out on a limb you have to wonder how bad the census reporter was. still all that nonsense about her being born in spain it had to come from that time RIGHT?
LikeLike
I FOUNED IT! Weedys passport! Weedy wed Fitz sep 3 1918 in los angles cal. ! her passport reads i somoley swear i was born in Little Rock Ark.Dec.14 1889!
LikeLike
She’s also knocking three years off her age in her passport!
LikeLike
Err isn’t that against the law? :LMAO:
LikeLike
Yes it is, highlly illegal!
LikeLike
If one is to start analyzing the situation, you can look at the fact that Cynthia was 24 years old and living at home as an only child with two older parents, Basil and Ouida, ages 70 and approx. 76, when Basil’s autobiography was published in 1962. Having had friends in similar situations, Cynthia may have been the one they leaned on and perhaps she had trouble leaving the nest. Maybe Ouida was a controller, who knows? But this scenario is worth taking a look at.
LikeLike
I’d always assumed Cynthia had remained living with her parents until her death as an adult…even BEFORE I ever read about it.
This is because I figured she’d been possibly BORN with this “condition”, or acquired it as a young child/teen—I believe I read several years ago that what she’d had was considered “incurable, and fatal”, and that people who have it don’t live to be very old—she was most likely frail, and needed special medical care. Perhaps her parents didn’t want to (or couldn’t) let her live on her own, for this reason.
She might’ve dated, but never married or had children—it’s possible she either wasn’t ABLE to conceive, or her disorder was congenital, and she didn’t want to pass it on to her offspring…who knows; she may have never even HAD sex because of this fear, or because she hadn’t met “the right one” yet. That would be sad. I hope she found a wonderful, understanding guy to care for her and treat her like the princess I KNOW her dad saw her as. 🙂
LikeLike
When and why did they stop calling her Barbara and start using her second Christian name? If Barbara was her birth mother’s name could that be why they made the switch? And yes my name is also Barbara.
LikeLike
She MAY have always gone by “Cynthia”—her parents probably thought “Barbara Cynthia” sounded better as her birth-name, but preferred calling her by her middle-name (which they both thought was “a pretty name”), instead.
Basil went by his middle-name most or all of his life, too (he was christened “Philip St. John Basil”). So did his son, Rodion (originally named “Basil Rodion”……having TWO “Basil Rathbones” in one family could get rather confusing!). Vincent Price’s kids ALSO go by their middle-names, ’cause their first names were the same as their parents’. 🙂
LikeLike
Would really love any more to solve mystery of Cyn’s tragic and short life.Acute anemia would most certainly have hemorrhage as 1 cause,poss ulcers,liver disease amongst other causes.Didn’t think bothe her gran’s were Barbara,Cynthia seemed to be his 1st love’s name back in adolescence or childhood,per IAOOC.Everyone cert did seem to have to be at OR’s beck-and-call.
LikeLike
I have always wondered if it was meaningful that Cynthia died so soon after her father. Was he the one thing that made life bearable? I wonder what it was like to be left alone with Ouida. That story X tells of Cynthia phoning her and asking her not to appear at the funeral. It sounds like Cynthia might have been at her beck and call.
LikeLike
Acute anemia as opposed to chronic anemia? What might that denote?
LikeLike
Yes I focused on that too. Doesn’t that imply sudden hemorrhage or something?
LikeLike
Yes, acute anemia denotes sudden hemolysis, either through trauma or spontaneous hemorrhage. In a young woman of 30 trauma or suicide or complications of childbirth or abortion would seem the most likely causes of acute anemia, but disease would also be a possibility. Some illnesses and medications that affect blood clotting can predispose to the latter. Liver diseases such as cirrhosis can interfere with normal clotting and create a situation where sudden and catastrophic hemorrhage can occur.
LikeLike
Thanks Lemony. Are you a doctor may I ask?
LikeLike
Yes I am. I’m an attending physician in emergency medicine at a Brooklyn hospital
LikeLike
Dear Dr Lemony:I know it’s usually males with hemophilia,but could Cyn poss have had hemophilia,or even hemachromatosis,which I think is more likely with damage to liver and other internal organs?Reason I ask is in BR’s IAOOC,he stated somewhere that she was an Irish girl,and I know there are quite a few of my Irish connection (relatives & friends with hemo- and a pamphlet from an A&E there says there is a gene in many Celtic & Northern Europeans for said disorder.Thanks,sign me as a retired RN.
LikeLike
Just saw this questions, sorry Ellen. Yeah I don’t seen any reason why hemochromatosis would not be possible. It can lead to organ failure and cirrhosis. Hemophilia and the whole range of clotting disorders would also be possible,and of course would predispose to hepatitis, which itself can cause clotting problems. Good call ex-RN!
I like “Dr Lemony,” would like to have that on my ID tag.
LikeLike
Thanks,Dr L,have a good friend,also retired nurse who suffers from hemachromatosis,remember her telling me not long ago about heart involvement,so Cyn was in for even more severe health issues at any time.It was very tragic,but in rare pics of her,love that one w/Baz in Calif,she looked reasonably happy (from a few months ago-he had a pair of glasses in hand).
LikeLike
Hey, I know NYC is expensive to live in, but if Cynthia didn’t get along with OB, and she had this “assistant art dir.” job (decent pay??) why not live with a roommate or at least get out of the clutches? A tiny apt. or even a room would be her freedom, at least. Sounds as if she was able to carry a responsible job, whatever else may have been going on. Maybe the WebMD. website can give illuminating info on anemia and hepatitis and their causes.
The baby–there was reference in your blogs to lost pregnancies–perhaps this one lasted long enough to be “viable” at birth and then died.
Thanks so much for starting up this new site. Hopefully we can find out more about her; maybe coworkers can be found. Poor kid.
LikeLike
Queen of mean let baby girl out of her clutches? Not while there was a penny to squeez out of her.IMHO!
LikeLike
They had a baby that died? That’s…that’s sad. ;_;
LikeLike
Ah! Dang! I used the wrong name! 😡
LikeLike
Dont fret we know you as both.
LikeLike
Too late dude I’m fretting! *Falls on floor and starts rolling around*
(Lol only just saw your comment! xD)
LikeLike
“Their own baby died 11 years ago.” Did I miss something or is that another Ouida/Hollywood press concoction?
LikeLike
I don’t know what to make of that either. It reads as if she didn’t simply miscarry but actually had a baby that died. Presumably it’s true but with Ouida you can never be sure
LikeLike
I’m still looking but can find nothing.I think we need acess to the NY times obits. About Cyn does anyone have acess to Ny death certs. Most say name of undertaker and where burial will be.Well WV does anyhow.We have no idea where she was burried even? My old stand by “Find A Grave” failed my on this one. If shes burried at Fernclif it dosent come up on Find A Grave. Distric lib,often have that list and the co,couthouse will deft have it.Most will let you look for like 15 cents a certifided is higher. But we dont need a cert copy of Cyns but a copy of the death cert SHOULD clear up alot of things,probly cause of death..unsuer if it will clear up birth parents?
LikeLike
Egads the should have read most court houses will let you look for free.[for birth and death certs] a non certifed copy is like 15cents, a certifed is higher. Same goes for the baby they supposedly lost.
LikeLike
This is not directly connected but I notice the newspaper article about Cynthia’s adoption says she is to be christened in New York in September 1939. Could it be that “LETTER 1”, the letter to Madame X wherein he talks about being in New York and hearing from from her father was written when he was there for Cynthia’s christening?
https://thegreatbaz.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/letters-to-madame-x-c-1940-1963/
LikeLike
That’s well spotted Elaine. Certainly sounds plausible.
LikeLike
BR’s relationship with X didn’t start until later. When was that first kiss? Christmas 1940 or 1941? If he wrote a letter to her in September 1939, he wouldn’t have referred to her as “darling” and “angel.”
LikeLike
Although the letter in question is dated 1939-40 and they didn’t become lovers until February 1941. He might have called her “angel” and “darling” if they were just close friends might he not?
LikeLike
I wouldn’t call a friend “angel” or “darling.”. I think those terms indicate an intimacy that wasn’t there in 1939. But that’s just my opinion.
LikeLike
He was an actor Marc, they call every one darling 😉
LikeLike